UFC on Fuel TV 3 Korean Zombie vs Poirier Poster
UFC on Fuel TV 3 took place on Tuesday, May 15th from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. Six fights streamed on facebook and six fights were shown on Versus. Nearly every fight was exciting from start to finish on the main card, and the main event featured a fight of the year candidate.
Chan Sung Jung submits Dustin Poirier
Is it possible for Chan Sung Jung to not be in an exciting fight? The reason he has the nickname the “Korean Zombie” is due to the amount of punishment he can take and the fact that he keeps coming forward. Dustin Poirier was able to dish out his attacks, but in the end it wasn’t enough.
The first round both fighters decided to take the other down, but it was Jung who was able to score several elbows to the forehead of Poirier. The elbows were damaging, in that they cut Poirier up and blood started to trickle down his face.
The second round Jung again worked on top of Poirier after a takedown. Jung landed elbow after elbow and had a great punch as he faked an ankle throw and instead threw a punch. He nearly missed with a spinning backfist, but then transitioned it to a flying knee and uppercuts. The crowd went wild as Jung got the mount, but it was a high mount and he struggled to land damaging blows. Poirier tried to escape, but Jung again countered with submissions. He transitioned from a triangle to armbar back to triangle and then again to armbar. Poirier escaped and was on top but Jung finished the round with a very tight triangle.
The third round Jung started to slow down. Poirier was able to turn the fight into a more technical standup fight for the first half. Jung went for a takedown, got it, and landed several punches before Poirier was able to stand up. Jung landed a big knee, and both fighters looked like they were starting to gas. As the round was ending, Poirier was looking more like a zombie as Jung was landing punches and knees but kept coming forward and throwing with bad intention.
The fourth round was a first for both fighters as neither had been in what is dubbed the championship rounds. Jung landed a flying knee and Poirier shot for a takedown immediately. Jung defended and used his defense to secure a D’Arce choke. Poirier was in a lot of trouble and tapped just before being choked out.
Amir Sadollah edges out Jorge Lopez
In what was a battle of two very evenly matched fighters, Amir Sadollah edged out Jorge Lopez with a split decision. Sadollah started out slow, allowing Lopez to land leg kicks. Lopez decided to not trade with Sadollah and instead wanted to get the fight to the ground. After a failed takedown attempt, Lopez switched for a slightly different single leg and was able to elevate Sadollah. Once on the ground, a big elbow from Lopez landed before Sadollah was able to get up.
Lopez tried to take Sadollah down again in the second, wanting to capitalize on what worked well for him in the first round. Sadollah defended well, forcing Lopez to give up his neck. Sadollah recognized it and nearly finished the fight with a standing guillotine. As he transitioned to sink the choke in deeper, Lopez used a beautiful transition to escape from the submission. After the failed attempt, Sadollah was able to land kicks, and did enough to earn the round.
The third round, Lopez seemed to be the aggressor, landing punches and working for a takedown. But after spending most of his energy to get a takedown, Sadollah was able to land what he wanted to. As the ref stood the two up due to a lack of action, Sadollah was clearly the fresher fighter as Lopez was sluggish to rise to his feet. Sadollah capitalized and landed a flying knee and worked to get Lopez’s back as time expired. It was enough damage for two judges to score the fight Sadollah, the local crowd, not exactly thrilled with it.
Donald Cerrone puts on a clinic over Jeremy Stephens
Jeremy Stephens has tremendous power in his hands, but Donald Cerrone had no problem standing and trading with him. Cerrone who has been notorious in the past for starting slow, did just that against Stephens. But this time it seemed as if it was intentional as Cerrone’s pace seemed to switch from slow to fast from combo to combo.
Utilizing fantastic footwork, Cerrone found his range with devastating combos. Unlike many fighters who are content to land just a 1-2 combo, Cerrone instead switched his attacks up throwing varying punches before landing a leg kick, or leading with a kick and following it up with several punches.
Stephens left eye was hurt by the end of the first round, and by the end of the fight, it was nearly swollen shut. Cerrone decided to switch things up after landing almost at will and took Stephens down to the ground. Stephens landed his most significant strikes with several elbows to the top of Cerrone’s head. The elbows opened up a couple of cuts, but nothing that would warrant a stoppage from the doctor.
Greg Jackson told Cerrone in between rounds to just have fun and that is what it looked like. Cerrone was able to land combo after combo and then evade nearly everything Stephens threw at him.
For Cerrone it was a welcome back to what he does best, and he looked like the Cowboy that had put together a six fight win streak and nothing like he did against Diaz.
Yves Jabouin nearly finished Jeff Hougland
Every now and then a fight is marred by the ref and fans will end up all up in arms about it. The bantamweight battle between Yves Jabouin and Jeff Hougland will likely be one of those fights. After dropping Hougland with a spinning back kick in the first round, Hougland was visibly hurt and was in the fetal position. The ref looked to be stepping in to stop the fight, and inadvertently blocked the way for Jabouin to finish the fight right away.
Hougland needs to be recognized for his ability to recover quickly as every time Jabouin looked to finish the fight after dropping Hougland, somehow Hougland would recover. The combination of Hougland threatening with submissions, and Jabouin happy to stay within the guard of Hougland to try and finish gave Hougland the time to recover.
Hougland’s strategy was to stay outside and use his reach advantage, but it proved to be a flawed one. Jabouin utilized his speed advantage to get just inside the range and Hougland, while resilient wasn’t able to do much damage.
Jabouin’s constant pressure and ability to drop Hougland with body shots was extremely impressive and easily won him the unanimous decision.
Igor Pokrajac and Fabio Maldonado delight fans for fifteen minutes
The opening round between Igor Pokrajac and Fabio Maldonado was arguably one of the hardest to score in 2012. Pokrajac took Maldonado down in the opening seconds and worked damaging ground and pound at times looking close to finishing the fight. But Maldonado was able to escape, and once standing, started to find his range on Pokrajac. A series of short punches hurt Pokrajac and Maldonado was teeing off with peppering punches. Pokrajac weathered the storm and even returned fire with big knees that Maldonado just seemed to brush off.
Rounds two and three were even more exciting. Maldonado connected with punch after punch and body shot after body shot, buckling Pokrajac. But Pokrajac was able to stay standing, and as noted by Jon Anik, still has yet to be knocked down inside the octagon.
Pokrajac in the third started to land and seemed the faster of the two light heavyweights. Maldonado kept pushing forward, but seemed to eat more and more leather. With less than thirty seconds left, the two went blow for blow and the crowd loved every minute of it.
Tom Lawlor makes quick work of Jason MacDonald
Tom Lawlor was celebrating his 29th birthday as he entered the cage for his fight against Jason MacDonald. While sporting both a height and reach disadvantage to MacDonald, the gameplan was to press forward and work inside.
Early in the fight it was MacDonald who decided to try and test Lawlor’s wrestling with a takedown attempt but he failed. The two fighters split, and then started to find their range.
Lawlor backed MacDonald up against the cage and he missed with a right jab, dodged a jab from MacDonald, then connected with a straight left. The punch buckled MacDonald’s knees and Lawlor smartly backed up, planted his feet and then threw a finishing right hand that knocked MacDonald out cold. MacDonald fell face first into the canvas, and Lawlor was able to celebrate not only his birthday, but a victory as well.
Quick Results
Chan Sung Jung def. Dustin Poirier via technical submission (D’arce choke) – Round 4, 1:07
Amir Sadollah def. Jorge Lopez via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Donald Cerrone def. Jeremy Stephens via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Yves Jabouin def. Jeff Hougland via unanimous decision via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)
Igor Pokrajac def. Fabio Maldonado via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
Tom Lawlor def. Jason MacDonald via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:50
Brad Tavares def. Dongi Yang via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Cody McKenzie def. Marcus LeVesseur via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 3:05
T.J. Grant def. Carlo Prater via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Rafael Dos Anjos def. Kamal Shalorus via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:40
Johnny Eduardo def. Jeff Curran via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Francisco Rivera def. Alex Soto via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Weigh ins for UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier took place today at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. The event will be the UFC’s third card on the FUEL network and it is set to be headlined by Chan Sung Jung and Dustin Poirier in a featherweight fight. All fighters made weight, and will go on as scheduled. Below are the full weigh in results for the card.
